TAMPA – Alex Rodriguez sat yesterday in the same Legends Field dugout in which a year and a day earlier he had triggered a week of back pages by confirming his relationship with Derek Jeter was as sunny as the inside of a cave.

He did not play tabloid darling yesterday in a brief chat with the media before the Yankees’ first full-squad workout. Nevertheless, A-Rod being A-Rod, he still faced questions not being posed to your average major league third baseman, including about:

* His tempestuous opt-out, opt-in with the Yanks from the offseason.

* His evaporated relationship with long-time agent Scott Boras.

* A conversation John Rocker claimed Rodriguez participated in during the 2002 season on how to avoid positive drug tests.

* The possibility he will be named as a drug cheat in Jose Canseco’s upcoming book.

* Allegations of shoddy, slumlord-like upkeep of apartment complexes he owns in Tampa.

In 8 minutes, 24 seconds, A-Rod was asked more discomforting questions than the entirety of the Kansas City Royals will be asked this year. Yet, Rodriguez never lost his outward good spirit or smile. Perhaps he has come to peace that this is his life, at least the New York Yankee version of his life. That for some reason – blame his insecurities, blame media insatiability, blame both or more – he never is going to operate as just another player.

He has become so big that his oh-fers can end up on Oprah. His home runs are tape-measured and his personal life is tape at 11.

Just consider that he offered what seemed to be a throw-away line yesterday morning about being drug “tested 9 or 10 times last year.” But there is little innocuous with A-Rod.

It turns out that if he were tested that often, Rodriguez likely would have had to previously flunk a test for banned stimulants. That motivated A-Rod, eight hours later, to issue a statement clarifying that his quote was an “exaggeration.”

Joe Girardi said, “When you are a player of Alex’s caliber, you are going to be examined more.”

But this is more than just Alex’s talent. There are many talented major leaguers. Rodriguez has a quality stoked by the size of his skills, contract, ego and need for attention that makes controversy his mistress. He points to a distraction-laden 2007 in which he nevertheless won his third AL MVP award as validation that he can insulate his game from the maelstrom.

For the Yankees, this must be true. They have tied their present, future and payroll to Rodriguez by re-upping him for 10 years at $275 million. He declares that winning a World Series as a Yankee is his lone quest.

However, the $30 million in bonuses Rodriguez had inserted in his contract for reaching historic homer plateaus means he is thinking about more than just rings.

You can see already how his steady homer climb is going to create both more tension and attention around Rodriguez, and not just because of the normal pressures associated with such achievement.

Home runs, in this era, have become glued to illegal performance enhancers. No matter how many speedsters or pitchers test positive, the image of steroids is going to be an over-muscled slugger.

Canseco’s second tell-all is scheduled out with the start of the season, and he has certainly hinted strongly that Rodriguez will be inside. And as he tracks down Ruth and Aaron, Bonds and history, Rodriguez will have to persistently maneuver in this age of doubt, even if he continues to do as he did yesterday, and state he has never touched an illegal performance enhancer and that after the public humiliation of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, any player would be insane to even risk dabbling.

Yet, realistically, he said, “Some of the things that I’ve accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future.”

Of course, Rodriguez’s name will keep coming up. It is who he is. Great player, great skill for attracting controversy.